On Epiphanies, Eurekas and other Mavities

 

This week we explore the meaning of epiphany as it relatesto our work and life. We understand that the term, as it applies to the ordinary, is anexperience of a sudden and striking realization. Ina flash, the moment turns away from the ordinary and enters the extraordinary.

It is Archimedes' realization of how to estimate the volumeof a given mass, when he shouted "Eureka!" ("I have foundit!")

Or, when struggling to reconcile Newtonian physics andMaxwell's equations, Einstein took a streetcar home. Looking behind him at thereceding clocktower, he realized that if the car sped up (close to the speed oflight) he would see the clock slow down, and remarked, "a storm brokeloose in my mind.” 

Or, the moment when Isaac Newton gets hit with a falling apple. It's Mavity! (It's a Doctor Who thing. But still the same definition of epiphany made).

It’s the a-ha moment, when ordinary becomes extraordinary, when suddenly we come to an understandingof a previously incomprehensible problem or concept.

Writers strive for those a-ha moments as weengineer our stories, when suddenly the character and their journey make sense.We struggle in our efforts to give readers their own epiphanies via relatablecharacters and fantastic adventures. Writer’s block by any other name stillstinks. But I’m not going to discuss this here because it seems just as important toremember that’s it’s okay to not have an epiphany. Not everything needs to beextraordinary all the time. Sometimes, as Tolkien once said, it’s not a bad thing tocelebrate the simple life every so often.

Now is the time when writers make their resolutions to write XX number ofpages a week, or contact XX number of agents, or submit XX number ofmanuscripts. And spend XX number of hours on research, write an outline, chart a character arc. Revise XX number of chapters. Write a forward.

Here’s an epiphany I posted last year. Wisdom from Emma Dryden. It should be postedevery New Year as we struggle to achieve these preposterous resolutions. It’sokay to be human, and ordinary, at least for a day or two anyway.